1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to home entertainment systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Home entertainment systems have been provided that can include a set-top box media server that communicates with various components in the home, e.g., TVs, laptop computers, and custom display devices. Home network communication technologies (e.g., 802.11 wireless, UWB (Ultra Wide Band), PLC (Power Line Communication), etc.) are widely used as their costs decrease.
As critically recognized herein, wireless home networks are not as reliable as wired and dedicated networks such as Ethernet. Consequently, audio/video data packets frequently can be lost (“dropped”) in transmission. When a transmission is not time critical, retransmission of a dropped packet is not a problem. An example of such a non-time critical transmission is a file transfer that can be performed using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which includes a retransmission mechanism.
However, for time critical audio/video (A/V) streaming, retransmission can be problematic. Usually, a client, such as a TV, has a limited amount of buffer to decode the A/V stream and pass the decoded data on for playing. Retransmission takes time, and this can cause underflow of the client buffer, meaning that the buffer can empty itself of data before dropped packets are received pursuant to retransmission. Also, an opposite problem can occur at the home network system server, namely, during retransmission, new data can arrive from the outside source (cable, antenna, etc.) and the server's transmission data buffer overflows, because the server holds the new data in its buffer until the dropped packet is received by the client. As understood herein, this problem can be serious particularly in the case of live streaming, because the stream rate is not controllable at all. As further recognized herein, the above-mentioned problems of buffer underflow and overflow can cause visible video errors or audible noise, diminishing the quality of the A/V display and, thus, the viewer's enjoyment.